The present invention relates to buildings. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing information related to buildings wirelessly.
Many types of buildings, such as commercial, industrial, residential, et cetera, are sources of myriad information. Generally, this information cannot readily be consulted nor used. For example, a given residential building will be positioned on its lot in accordance with a plat map, be constructed in accordance with one or more blueprints, and have all of the amenities and features within selected and/or constructed in accordance with additional specifications set forth by either the builder or designer. Moreover, during the construction of the residential building, even information such as the location of wiring, plumbing, or any other items within the walls of the building may be important at some point after construction is completed. Additionally, some houses may have to have significant work done to deal with remedial problems. For example, a house may have to be radon-proof, thus requiring carbon filter mats to be built into the lowest floor and special ventilation installed to refresh air in the house. Another example includes diesel contamination existing under an existing house. Yet another example might involve the removal of asbestos installation and roofing. While another example includes dealing with damp and toxic mold, earthquake reinforcement, etc. The construction and/or maintenance done in order to address these problems may be included in the documentation maintained for the building. Generally, simply maintaining a complete set of all of this information in one location such that it can be consulted in the future is a daunting task. Moreover, once the house is sold, much of the information is generally not passed along to the new owner. While some of this building information may not be of great importance to future owners, it certainly would be useful.
The usefulness of building information increases substantially when viewed in the context of industrial and/or commercial buildings. Of primary importance here is information that may be required by emergency services such as police or fire departments when responding to emergencies at the building. For example, if a given industrial building catches fire, it is important for a fire department to be able to respond extremely quickly to the fire. It is also important to have detailed information regarding floor plans, the presence, nature, and quantity of any hazardous materials that may be located within the building, the location of fire exits, elevators, fire hoses/axes, fire hydrants, emergency tanoy systems, stairwells, sprinkler systems, et cetera. In these situations, the fire department will generally attempt to locate printed materials related to the building. Typically, these printed materials can consume the space of one or two arm-sized crates. In order to assist firefighters with emergency response, some have proposed software. For example, Motorola, of Schaumburg, Ill., provides software sold under the trade designation WaveSoft-Fire 2.0. This software provides in-vehicle electronic access to vital information such as building address, latitude/longitude on large-scale geographical maps, hydrant locations, and gas lines regarding a specific building. This information is generally stored by the fire department and consulted with respect to a specific building when an emergency for that building arises.
With respect to commercial buildings, many of the same concerns set forth above with respect to industrial buildings exist. Additionally, with respect to commercial buildings, it may be beneficial to be able to provide information to consumers to facilitate their shopping. For example, one way in which information is provided to consumers, is by the provision of a map or guide such as can be found in the typical shopping mall. While this information is generally helpful to consumers, it is relatively static and not easily changeable. Moreover, this information typically does not provide more detail than simply where in the mall a specific store is located, or where in the store a specific department is located.
There is a significant need for user-friendly, cost-effective, self-describing buildings. While the degree to which this has occurred in the past is generally limited to maps provided within shopping malls, new technology has provided an infrastructure that can be used advantageously to drastically change the way people interact with buildings.